DETERMINERS

FUNCTION AND CLASSES OF DETERMINERS Function

Determiners are words placed in front of a noun to make it clear what the noun refers to. The word 'people' by itself is a general reference to some group of human beings. If someone says 'these people', we know which group they are talking about, and if they say 'a lot of people' we know how big the group is. 'These' and 'a lot of' are determiners in these sentences.

Classes of Determiners
There are several classes of determiners: Definite and Indefinite articles the, a, an Demonstratives this, that, these, those Possessives my, your, his, her, its, our, their Quantifiers a few, a little, much, many, a lot of, most, some, any, enough, etc. Numbers one, ten, thirty, etc. Distributives all, both, half, either, neither, each, every Difference words other, another Question words Which, what, whose

Defining words which, whose The following words are pre-determiners. They go before determiners, such as articles: such and what, half, rather, quite

DEFINITE ARTICLE
THE
Articles in English are invariable. That is, they do not change according to the gender or number of the noun they refer to, e.g. the boy, the woman, the children 'The' is used: 1. to refer to something which has already been mentioned. An elephant and a mouse fell in love. The mouse loved the elephant's long trunk, and the elephant loved the mouse's tiny nose. 2. when both the speaker and listener know what is being talked about, even if it has not been mentioned before. 'Where's the bathroom?' 'It's on the first floor.' 3. in sentences or clauses where we define or identify a particular person or object: The man who wrote this book is famous. 'Which car did you scratch?' 'The red one. My house is the one with a blue door.' 4. to refer to objects we regard as unique: the sun, the moon, the world 5. before superlatives and ordinal numbers: (see Adjectives) the highest building, the first page, the last chapter. 6. with adjectives, to refer to a whole group of people: the Japanese (see Nouns - Nationalities), the old

7. with names of geographical areas and oceans: the Caribbean, the Sahara, the Atlantic 8. with decades, or groups of years: she grew up in the seventies

INDEFINITE ARTICLE: A / AN
A / AN
Use 'a' with nouns starting with a consonant (letters that are not vowels), 'an' with nouns starting with a vowel (a,e,i,o,u)

Examples

A boy An apple A car An orange A house An opera

NOTE: An before an h mute - an hour, an honour. A before u and eu when they sound like 'you': a european, a university, a unit The indefinite article is used:

to refer to something for the first time: An elephant and a mouse fell in love. Would you like a drink? I've finally got a good job. to refer to a particular member of a group or class

Examples:

with names of jobs: John is a doctor. Mary is training to be an engineer. He wants to be a dancer. with nationalities and religions: John is an Englishman. Kate is a Catholic.

with musical instruments: Sherlock Holmes was playing a violin when the visitor arrived. (BUT to describe the activity we say "He plays the violin.") with names of days: I was born on a Thursday to refer to a kind of, or example of something: the mouse had a tiny nose the elephant had a long trunk it was a very strange car with singular nouns, after the words 'what' and 'such': What a shame! She's such a beautiful girl. meaning 'one', referring to a single object or person: I'd like an orange and two lemons please. The burglar took a diamond necklace and a valuable painting.

Notice also that we usually say a hundred, a thousand, a million. NOTE: that we use 'one' to add emphasis or to contrast with other numbers: I don't know one person who likes eating elephant meat. We've got six computers but only one printer.

EXCEPTIONS TO USING THE DEFINITE ARTICLE

There is no article:

with names of countries (if singular) Germany is an important economic power. He's just returned from Zimbabwe. (But: I'm visiting the United States next week.) with the names of languages French is spoken in Tahiti. English uses many words of Latin origin. Indonesian is a relatively new language. with the names of meals. Lunch is at midday. Dinner is in the evening. Breakfast is the first meal of the day. with people's names (if singular): John's coming to the party.

George King is my uncle. (But: we're having lunch with the Morgans tomorrow.)

with titles and names: Prince Charles is Queen Elizabeth's son. President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. Dr. Watson was Sherlock Holmes' friend. (But: the Queen of England, the Pope.) After the 's possessive case: His brother's car. Peter's house. with professions: Engineering is a useful career. He'll probably go into medicine. with names of shops: I'll get the card at Smith's. Can you go to Boots for me? with years: 1948 was a wonderful year. Do you remember 1995? With uncountable nouns: Rice is the main food in Asia. Milk is often added to tea in England. War is destructive. with the names of individual mountains, lakes and islands: Mount McKinley is the highest mountain in Alaska. She lives near Lake Windermere. Have you visited Long Island? with most names of towns, streets, stations and airports: Victoria Station is in the centre of London. Can you direct me to Bond Street? She lives in Florence. They're flying from Heathrow. in some fixed expressions, for example: by car by train by air on foot

on holiday on air (in broadcasting) at school at work at University in church in prison in bed

THE DEMONSTRATIVES
THIS, THAT, THESE, THOSE
1. Function The demonstratives this, that, these, those ,show where an object or person is in relation to the speaker. This (singular) and these (plural) refer to an object or person near the speaker. That (singular) and those (plural) refer to an object or person further away. It can be a physical closeness or distance as in:

Who owns that house? (distant) Is this John's house? (near)

Or it can be a psychological distance as in:

That's nothing to do with me.. (distant) This is a nice surprise! (near)

2. Position

Before the noun. Before the word 'one'. Before an adjective + noun. Alone when the noun is 'understood'.

Examples:

This car looks cleaner than that one. This old world keeps turning round Do you remember that wonderful day in June? I'll never forget this.

THE POSSESSIVES

Possessive pronouns and possessive adjectives show who the thing belongs to.
PERSON 1st 2nd 3rd (I) (you) (he) (she) (it) Plural 1st 2nd 3rd (we) (you) (they) our your their ours yours theirs ADJECTIVES my your his her it PRONOUNS mine yours his hers its

NOTE: In English, possessive adjectives and pronouns refer to the possessor, not the object or person that is possessed.

Examples

Jane's brother is married to John's sister. Her brother is married to his sister. Peter and his sister. Jane and her father. Do you know where your books are? Is this their picnic? No, it is ours. I think this is your passport. Yes, it is mine.

THE DISTRIBUTIVES

ALL, BOTH, HALF EACH, EVERY, EITHER, NEITHER

These words refer to a group of people or things, and to individual members of the group. They show different ways of looking at the individuals within a group, and they express how something is distributed, shared or divided.

ALL, BOTH, HALF

These words can be used in the following ways: 1 2 ALL + 3 4a 4b the my, your, etc. this, that these, those Uncountable noun or Countable noun in the plural Uncountable noun Countable noun in the plural

Examples
1. 2. 3. 4a. 4b. All cheese contains protein All children need affection All the people in the room were silent. Have you eaten all the bread? I've invited all my friends to the party. I've been waiting all my life for this opportunity. Who's left all this paper on my desk? Look at all those balloons! 1 2 the BOTH + 3 my, your, etc. 4 these, those Countable noun in the plural

Example
1. Both children were born in Italy.

2. 3. 4

He has crashed both (of) the cars. Both (of) my parents have fair hair. You can take both (of) these books back to the library. See note below 1 2 a the my, your, etc. this, that, these, those Uncountable or countable noun

HALF +

3 4

Example
1. 2. 3. 4 I bought half a kilo of apples yesterday. You can have half (of) the cake. She gave me half (of) the apples. I've already given you half (of) my money. Half (of) his books were in French. Half (of) these snakes are harmless You can take half (of) this sugar.

NOTE: All, both, half + OF: 'OF' must be added when followed by a pronoun: All of you; both of us; half of them It is also quite common to add it in most of the above situations except when there is no article (No.1 in all the tables above.)

EACH, EVERY, EITHER, NEITHER

These distributive words are normally used with singular nouns, and are placed before the noun. Each, either and neither can be used with plural nouns but must be followed by 'of': Each is a way of seeing the members of a group as individuals:

Each child received a present. Each of the children received a present.

Every is a way of seeing a group as a series of members:

Every child in the world deserves affection.

It can also express different points in a series, especially with time expressions:

Every third morning John goes jogging. This magazine is published every other week.

Either and Neither are concerned with distribution between two things - either is positive, neither is negative:

Which chair do you want? Either chair will do. I can stay at either hotel, they are both good There are two chairs here. You can take either of them. Neither chair is any good, they're both too small. Which chair do you want? Neither of them - they're both too small.

DIFFERENCE WORDS
OTHER, ANOTHER
These words refer to something different, remaining, or additional. They are placed before the noun. Another is used with singular nouns. Other with singular or plural.

There are other jobs you could try. Where's the other packet of cereals? Is there any other bread? Have another cup of tea.

QUESTION WORDS
WHICH, WHAT, WHOSE
In questions, these words ask which thing or person is being referred to. They are placed before the noun.

Which dress are you going to wear tonight? What colour is your dress? Whose car are you going to use?

DEFINING WORDS

WHICH AND WHOSE

In a statement, these words define or explain which thing or person is referred to:

Examples

He went back to the house. (Which house?) The house which stood on the corner. = He went back to the house which stood on the corner. I saw the man. (Which man?) The man whose car you damaged. = I saw the man whose car you damaged. He couldn't remember which film he had seen. That's the man whose wife works in my office. Tell me which coffee you like. The woman whose dog bit you is at the door.

PRE-DETERMINERS
SUCH, WHAT, RATHER, QUITE
These words are normally placed before the indefinite article. Such and what are often used to express surprise or other emotions:

Examples

What a lovely day! She's such a lovely woman! What an incredible film! He's such a fantastic guitarist!

Rather and quite are 'commenting' words, referring to the degree of a particular quality. They can express disappointment, pleasure, or other emotions, and are used before a/an + adjective + noun:

Examples

It's rather a small car. (= I'm a bit disappointed because it's small) It was quite a nice day.(= I was agreeably surprised.) He's had quite a bad accident. (= I'm worried) I've just met rather a nice man. (= I'm pleased)

INDEFINITE ARTICLE: A / AN
A / AN
Use 'a' with nouns starting with a consonant (letters that are not vowels), 'an' with nouns starting with a vowel (a,e,i,o,u)

Examples

A boy An apple A car An orange A house An opera

NOTE: An before an h mute - an hour, an honour. A before u and eu when they sound like 'you': a european, a university, a unit The indefinite article is used:

to refer to something for the first time: An elephant and a mouse fell in love. Would you like a drink? I've finally got a good job. to refer to a particular member of a group or class

Examples:

with names of jobs: John is a doctor. Mary is training to be an engineer. He wants to be a dancer. with nationalities and religions: John is an Englishman. Kate is a Catholic. with musical instruments: Sherlock Holmes was playing a violin when the visitor arrived. (BUT to describe the activity we say "He plays the violin.") with names of days: I was born on a Thursday to refer to a kind of, or example of something: the mouse had a tiny nose

the elephant had a long trunk it was a very strange car with singular nouns, after the words 'what' and 'such': What a shame! She's such a beautiful girl. meaning 'one', referring to a single object or person: I'd like an orange and two lemons please. The burglar took a diamond necklace and a valuable painting.

Notice also that we usually say a hundred, a thousand, a million. NOTE: that we use 'one' to add emphasis or to contrast with other numbers: I don't know one person who likes eating elephant meat. We've got six computers but only one printer.